The Frost Turns Black
by BlueWolf44
Summary: A warriors fanfic telling the story of one of my favourite warriors OCs, Blacksoul, and how she came to take up her name.


_**MoonClan**_

**Leader-**Skystar: _Grey-and-white she-cat with blue eyes. _

**Deputy-**Gorsetalon: _Broad-shouldered dark tabby tom with pale green eyes. Apprentice: Redpaw_

**Medicine Cat-**Firepool: _Bright ginger she-cat with orange eyes. Apprentice: Streamflower_

**Warriors-**

Falconwing: _Mottled grey tom-cat. Apprentice: Blackpaw_

Quiverleaf: _Long-haired dark brown tom with amber eyes. _

Skunkstripe: _Black she-cat with two white stripes down her back, dark blue eyes._

Short-tail: _White she-cat with a stumpy tail. Apprentice: Greypaw_

Wrenheart: _Small, dark brown tom with amber eyes. _

Riverfoot: _Dark grey tom with amber eyes. Apprentice: Hookpaw_

Reedfur: _Long-haired black tom._

Greenleaf: _Pale tabby she-cat with green eyes._

Fernfrost: _Grey she-cat with green eyes. Apprentice: Darkpaw_

Goldenpelt: _Long-haired tom-cat with golden fur. _

**Apprentices-**

Streamflower: _Pretty silver tabby she-cat with leaf green eyes, apprentice to the medicine cat._

Greypaw: _Sleek-furred, smoky grey tom. _

Redpaw: _Dark reddish she-cat with dark amber eyes and a long, fluffy tail._

Blackpaw: _Jet black she-cat with blue eyes._

Darkpaw: _Jet black tom with sinister red eyes._

Hookpaw: _Jet black tom with amber eyes and unusually long, hooked claws. _

**Queens-**

Autumnheart: _Small tortoiseshell she-cat, mother of Riverfoot's kit. (Rushingkit)_

Ivyclaw: _Brown-and-white queen with green eyes, mother of Spottedfang's kit.(Treekit) _

Mossflower: _Tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with amber eyes, mother of Wrenheart's kits. (Snowkit and Whitekit)_

**Elders-**

Spottedfang: _Speckled brown tom. _

**Kits-**

Rushingkit: _Silver tabby she-kit._

Treekit: _Brown tabby tom-kit with a white chest and toes._

Snowkit: _White she-kit with yelllow-brown eyes._

Whitekit: _Pale brown tabby she-kit with a white nose, chest and underside._

_In The Beginning..._

Blackkit lay in the nursery, curled against her brother, Hookkit. As she lay there peacefully, a prickling sensation tingled across her right ear. Blackkit screwed her eyes shut tighter and ignored it. It was probably just a loose root dangling from the ceiling, it would go away soon enough. But there it was again, five seconds(not sure what they call a second, I forgot.) later, and again, and again. The she-kit grumbled in protest, flattening her ears against her head. Maybe it wasn't a loose root.

"Hookkit," she complained, "your claws are poking me again, keep still!"

Hookkit didn't reply, so she opened her eyes. Confusion flickered in her for a moment: Hookkit was fast asleep beside her, his flanks gently rising and falling; apart from his breathing, he was neither moving nor making a sound. But something had been pricking her, and the black she-kit wanted to know what it was. She whipped her head around as she felt it again, her eyes locking on the culprit. Across the nursery, a tom-kit with jet black fur-large in size, for his age-crouched, chest pressed to the den's floor and hindquarters in the air. Darkkit. Blackkit scowled at her other littermate, he obviously wasn't going to let her go back to sleep. Darkkit's long tail waved fluidly through the air above his head and his bright red eyes gleamed with a taunting light.

_Come get me, if you dare..._They seemed to say. Blackkit scrambled to her paws, her fur fluffing out crossly. Darkkit darted forward again, his thorn-sharp claws catching across her ear once again before he returned to his previous position. Blackkit bared her teeth at him crossly.

"Stop it!"

"You're no fun."

"I'm trying to sleep."

"You've been asleep all morning!" Darkkit complained. "Both of you!"

Blackkit scowled. "So?" she growled, "Maybe you should go to sleep too."

"How can you both sleep _today_of all days? It's our apprentice ceremony after sunhigh!" Darkkit protested, swiping at her again.

Blackkit flicked the ear he had cuffed, annoyed.

"Exactly, the ceremony is _after_sunhigh, it _is_sunhigh. We can sleep if we want to." she growled.

"You can't sleep if I don't let you!" her brother retorted, shoving his shoulder against her side and knocking Blackkit off her paws.

"Ow!" Blackkit squeaked, swiping a paw towards Darkkit's muzzle. Unlike her brother, she kept her claws sheathed. "Mama said no claws!" she hissed, arching her back at him.

Just then, their mother, Skunkstripe, lifted her head from her paws. The fur that formed the two white stripes down her spine rose slightly as she saw Blackkit and Darkkit quarreling. Their mother gently seperated them with one paw.

"Stop it, you two." She mewed softly.

"Darkkit's hurting me!" Blackkit wailed.

"Blackkit won't play with me." Darkkit whined before their mother could tell him off.

Skunkstripe looked at Blackkit.

"Be nice to your brother."

"But he's hurting me!" Blackkit repeated. Skunkstripe turned to look at Darkkit sternly.

"And don't bully your sister, Darkkit."

He grumbled, kneading the floor of the nursery with his claws."And what have I told you about using your claws when you're playing?"

Darkkit rolled his eyes.

"No claws because I could really hurt someone, yeah yeah, I know."

"Then don't use your claws on your sister." Skunkstripe scolded.

"She made me do it."

"Darkkit." The she-cat's voice had a warning tone to it now. Darkkit slunk, tail down, to the other side of the nursery and sat there sulking. When he looked over his shoulder to glare at her, Blackkit poked her pink tongue out at her brother.

"Blackkit." her mother growled.

The she-kit craned her head up to look into Skunkstripe's deep blue eyes, the same colour as her own.

"Sorry mama." she apologized sincerely.

_Later that day..._

_ "_From this moment on, you shall be known as Goldenpelt, StarClan honours your kindness and your quick thinking, and we welcome you as a full warrior of MoonClan."

The golden-coloured tom's eyes shone as the Clan cheered his new name.

"Goldenpelt, Goldenpelt!"

Blackkit shivered with excitement. _That will be me one day, they'll be cheering for me._She thought. Beside her, she could feel Darkkit's fur prickling, Hookkit gazed up at the Clan leader, Skystar, in awe.

"Us next." Darkkit murmured. Blackkit nodded.

"Goldenpelt will sit vigil of the camp tonight while we sleep," Skystar continued, "but first, it is once again my task to appoint new apprentices for MoonClan." The Clan leader's blue eyes shone brightly as she looked at the three kits below the HighBranch. "Blackkit, Darkkit." the grey she-cat beckoned Blackkit and Darkkit forward with her tail. The black she-kit shuffled forward, acutely aware that the gazes of every single cat in the clearing were trained on her and her littermates. "Blackkit, you have reached your sixth moon, and it is time for you to learn what it means to be a warrior of MoonClan. From this day forward, until she has earned her warrior name, this apprentice shall be known as Blackpaw."

The young cat blinked, waiting nervously to hear who her mentor would be. There were so many great warriors in the Clan, she couldn't decide who she wanted to have as her mentor! "Falconwing." Skystar called the warrior forward. "You have mentored Reedfur and Greenleaf, and they have been a fine example to the other Clans, I trust you will train Blackpaw and ensure that she is a valuable asset to MoonClan."

The senior warrior dipped his mottled head.

"I won't let you down, Skystar." He vowed. Blackpaw touched noses with her new mentor, her eyes already shining with anticipation of all the training that was to come. Now it was Darkkit's turn.

"Darkkit, you have reached your sixth moon, and it is time for you to learn what it means to be a warrior of MoonClan. From this day forward, until he has earned his warrior name, this apprentice shall be known as Darkpaw."

Blackpaw held her breath, hoping that her littermate would get a mentor as good as hers. "Fernfrost."

The young grey she-cat stepped forward. "You are a swift, brave warrior. This will be your first apprentice, you had a fine mentor in Spottedfang, and I hope you will pass on all you know to this young apprentice."

Blackpaw looked over at her brother. His tail was twitching sullenly and he was staring at the floor. Craning her head to see his face, the she-cat saw that Darkpaw looked crestfallen. _What's his problem? He was bugging me about this ceremony earlier, he doesn't look all that pleased to be an apprentice._She thought to herself, puzzled. Then it hit her: Fernfrost was an unexperienced warrior, Darkpaw had hoped to get a senior warrior as his mentor!

"I will do my best." Fernfrost mewed. Blackpaw frowned, her brother shouldn't be so ungrateful, he was still getting to train to be a warrior, wasn't he?

Much to her relief, Darkpaw did not refuse to touch noses with his new mentor.

"Blackpaw, Darkpaw, Blackpaw, Darkpaw!" the Clan chanted. Next, Skystar did the same for Blackpaw and Darkpaw's den-mate.

"Riverfoot, you will mentor Hookpaw."

Hookpaw touched noses with his mentor, then the Clan chanted his new name.

"Hookpaw, Hookpaw!" Blackpaw cheered extra loud for her brother.

Skystar then ended the meeting and leapt gracefully down from the HighBranch, trotting to her den to go to sleep for the night. The other members of the Clan followed soon after, heading for their own dens.

"Settle yourself in your new den, and get a good night's rest." Falconwing's deep mew made Blackpaw turn her attention from Darkpaw to him, "we'll start training tomorrow, I don't want you so tired that you won't listen to what I tell you."

"Yes Falconwing." Blackpaw dipped her head, following after her two brothers as they made their way towards the apprentice's den. As they slid down into the den, a grey tom cat lifted his head from where he had been dozing in his nest. He yawned.

"Oh...look, Redpaw, it's the new apprentices!" he said brightly as Hookpaw and Darkpaw began making themselves nests. Blackpaw stayed where she was, her pelt burning with embarassment: They'd disturbed the older apprentices' sleep. Opposite Hookpaw's nest, the red-russet apprentice, lifted her head to look at the young cats, her thick, bushy tail twitched from side to side grumpily and her only answer to the tom's statement was a grunt before she turned her back to the other cats and went back to sleep. "Don't mind Redpaw." the tom told Blackpaw quietly, "She's always grumpy when somebody wakes her up, even if it's a senior warrior." He flicked his tail at the empty nest beside him. "You can sleep here, I don't mind."

"A...Are you sure?" Blackpaw squeaked, still feeling guilty about waking him and his denmate tom nodded.

"Positive."

"O...Okay." Blackpaw stepped delicately into the nest, turning around in a full circle to get comfortable.

"I'm Greypaw, by the way."

"Blackpaw." she smiled at him as she settled down in her nest.

"It's nice to have more apprentices in the den, it felt so empty with just me and Redpaw in here." Greypaw commented. Blackpaw gave a small nod.

"Snowkit and Whitekit will be apprentices soon too, then the den will be _really_full."

"We all know that." came the surly meow from across the den, "Now will you _shut up_and go to sleep?" Redpaw snapped. Blackpaw flattened her ears and laid her head down on her front paws, but Greypaw only rolled his eyes at his denmate. The bracken in the smoke-grey tom's nest rustled as he lay down as well. As Blackpaw began to close her eyes, she heard Greypaw whisper next to her.

"Goodnight, Blackpaw." The she-cat couldn't hold back a small giggle.

"Goodnight, Greypaw." She whispered back.

_The next day..._

Blackpaw ducked as Falconwing's paw swept over her head, about to leap upwards to overbalance the warrior, but at the last minute she lost her balance herself, tumbling head-over-paws across the hollow and coming to an unceremonious halt on the other side. She got up and shook the dust from her pelt, her ears burning with embarrassment, and turned her head to find out what had caused her to end that move wrong, in time to see both of Falconwing's forepaws returning to their original position where he had been standing instructing her on what she should do. Shock and irritation pulsed through Blackpaw as she strolled back to her mentor.

"You cheated!" she accused him crossly.

"Did I?"

"Yes, you told me to avoid your paw and then overbalance you; but you overbalanced me with your other paw!" Blackpaw huffed.

"I acted how any enemy Clan warrior would have acted during a fight." the mottled warrior countered smoothly. Blackpaw huffed again. "The other Clans aren't going to take it easy on you just because you're a kit." Falconwing mewed.

"I know." Blackpaw muttered, she was still cross, but now mostly at herself for being so mouse-brained. She glanced over at Darkpaw as she heard him pad over to stand next to her.

"Think of it this way, at least now you know he's likely to do that; so you can avoid it next time."

"I guess."

"Next time, twist your body around when you dodge his paw; that way, he won't be able to overbalance you because your paws willl be in different places." her brother whispered into her ear.

"Again." Falconwing mewed. Darkpaw backed up so that he wasn't in the way, sitting down and wrapping his tail around his paws to watch. Blackpaw drew in a deep breath, she'd get it right this time. She had to. She followed her littermate's advice as her mentor swiped a paw at her again, twisting her body around as she dodged out of the way. Blackpaw allowed herself a look of triumph as he staggered slightly, losing control of his balance when he didn't manage to catch hold of her ankle. She darted forward and hooked his paws out from underneath him, sending the senior warrior crashing to the sandy floor of the training hollow with a startled yowl. She glanced over at her brother, hapiness glowing inside her as she saw his eyes shining. He nodded excitedly and mouthed 'well done'. She purred at him, thankful for his help.

Blackpaw's legs were stiff and they felt heavy as she padded back into camp at sunhigh. She'd trained hard with Falconwing all morning, and now she was looking forward to at least a few moments of rest.

"Hey Blackpaw!"

Blackpaw's ears pricked happily as she heard the familiar voice of Greypaw calling to her from over near the entrance to the apprentice's den. He had a freshly-killed rabbit sitting between his front paws. The she-cat cast a glance over her shoulder at her brother, who was staring at Greypaw with an unreadable expression.

"I'm going to go over there and sit with Greypaw." she said to him.

"Fine." Darkpaw's whiskers twitched, and his mew had a hard edge to it. Blackpaw flicked her ears and turned away, padding over to the grey tom-cat.

"Hey."

Greypaw purred at her.

"Your brother doesn't seem too happy." he commented absently as both apprentices watched Blackpaw's littermate slink over to the fresh-kill pile, plucking out a mouse with his claws.

"I don't know why." Blackpaw mewed quietly. "He was pretty cheerful in the training hollow a moment ago."

Greypaw shrugged.

"Oh well, anyway..." he shuffled his paws a little awkwardly. "I caught this today"-he pawed at the rabbit on the ground in front of him-"and I thought you might...you know...like to share it with me."

Blackpaw could have sworn that his voice was tinged with hope...and nerves. Greypaw was nervous! Why would she not want to share prey with her denmate? She thought Greypaw was being a bit silly to think that she would say no; but unease crept through her as she felt another cat's stare searing her pelt. The black apprentice glanced over her shoulder to see Redpaw scowling at her, the red-russet she-cat's dark amber eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. Realisation hit her like a tidal wave. _Oh. That's why._

Now she understood why Redpaw kept glaring at her. _Greypaw's sharing prey with me and not with her, so she's jealous. _


End file.
